Comments on: Making It All Worthwhile

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:21:27 +0000

… I wish I wrote this post?

By: John Scammell

John Scammell — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 18:25:33 +0000

I wrestle with many of the same thoughts. I hated most of the PD that was done to me as a teacher. It’s part of the reason I became a consultant. I thought I could do better.

One of the first things my employer taught me was how to facilitate adult learning. They taught me processes to use with adults in sessions. Unfortunately, most of those processes were the same things I hated about most of the PD I attended. High school math teachers, generally, do not like fluff and weird activities that make them touch and interact with strangers.

I threw a lot of that stuff out the window early on. Interaction between participants in my sessions is purposeful conversation about math, pedagogy, assessment, or whatever the topic may be. I’m not saying I don’t want to hear their voices, or let them learn from each other, but I don’t force it through silly activities.

When I think I am done planning a workshop, I ask myself three questions.
1. Are there any parts of this that would make me uncomfortable in a bad way if I was a participant in this session? If there is accidentally such a part, I eliminate it. Bad uncomfortable is when a presenter says something like, “Stand up and move around the room until you find someone you don’t know. High five that person. Then share with each other your biggest teaching success from this year.” Good uncomfortable is when my thinking is challenged.
2. If I came to this session, what would I do differently in my class tomorrow as a result? I feel like I have to give people that. Rightly or wrongly, adult learners don’t want an entire day of big ideas. They want things to use.
3. Are there any parts where, as a participant, I would be making lame excuses to leave early? I need to engage people. It’s my fault, not theirs, if I don’t.

By: Joshua Schmidt

Joshua Schmidt — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 05:33:44 +0000

In a way, I think that if I was working with PD this is exactly what I would want to hear. Someone who had no interest from the get-go listened to you and heard the words that you said. In a way, you reached the “student” that is hardest to get to. If this were a classroom setting, you just set the first building block to creating a positive classroom relationship, but there in lies one of the greatest issues with PD.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 22:36:14 +0000

I agree with Eileen Finley.

I can only imagine him congratulating you on bringing your theory into practice. Even if some disagree on your theory, you at least put your money where your mouth is. Thanks for that…I do miss your WCYDWT blogs.

By: Amy Zimmer

Amy Zimmer — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:56:56 +0000

Hi Dan,

Thank you for sharing a REAL story. Storytelling is a marvelous way of communicating and figure yourself out. As a math teacher and a human, I find your thoughts to this full of self reflection and not navel-gazing. If your intention was to share it so we would feel that you are real and not hung up, you’ve done an excellent job. Amy

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:41:08 +0000

There’s no way surveymonkey could have captured this sentiment.

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:11:33 +0000

Certainly, I felt complimented. His remark was obviously well-intended. But I also took it as evidence of the extremely low expectations common to PD experiences. (ie. "Just try to get your message aligned with your medium a little.)

By: Eileen Finney

Eileen Finney — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:31:44 +0000

I disagree with your interpretation of his comment. So often we have PD from people who rely on theory and dismiss the how they work in the classroom. From my experience listening to your TED talk, and reading your blog etc, I feel that what works in the classroom is key to why you do all of this! He was giving you a compliment… not well worded, but well intended.

By: Bethany Smith

Bethany Smith — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:30:49 +0000

Ah… the back-handed compliment. One of the hardest things I find about giving PD are the people that don’t want to be there. I don’t think it would have mattered who you were, he wouldn’t have been happy. I guess the question is, do you want to try and change his mind?

By: Tom Hoffman

Tom Hoffman — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:20:45 +0000

Having not been in the urinal or the PD, I don’t really know what is going on here, but in general if a teacher said to me “You walk your talk,” I’d take that as meaning “(I don’t necessarily agree with you but at least) you aren’t one of those jackasses who stands up front and lectures about not lecturing (etc.),” which, as you know, is pretty much par for the course.